A holiday was declared for schools and colleges in Chennai on Monday, November 29, after incessant rains and water-logging in several parts of the district. Chennai District Collector, Dr Vijayarani, issued the order. In T Nagar, heavy rains have led to waterlogging and water gushed into several residences, making it impossible to stay on the lower floor and most have shifted to the upper floors. However several houses with only a single floor are not in livable conditions and many have shifted to hotels and some, to the residences of close relatives.
In Chennai and its suburbs, most roads were inundated and several subways were closed for traffic, while surplus water continued to be released from reservoirs. Traffic diversions were enforced at many places and barricades put up to caution road users. While there were disruptions in the state-run local bus services, suburban railway services were unhindered. Vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, were found stranded here on several roads covered under sheets of water. Authorities deployed heavy duty motor pumps to drain stagnant water.
Reservoirs, including Poondi and Chembarambakkam, that cater to the drinking water needs of Chennai, released over 10,500 cusecs of surplus water in view of continuous showers in catchment areas, authorities said. The release of surplus from Poondi dam in Tiruvallur district was stepped up (from an initial 4,253 cusecs to about 8,000 cusecs) in a phased manner upto about 12,000 cusecs by evening
A bulletin by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said a low pressure area is likely to form over South Andaman sea around 30 November, 2021. It is likely to become more marked and move westnorthwestwards during the subsequent 48 hours.
The bulletin pointed to scattered to broken, low and medium clouds with embedded intense to very intense convection over west central and south Bay of Bengal and south Andaman sea. The North East monsoon season (October to December) is Tamil Nadu's main rainy season. From October 1 till November 27, the state received about 60.33 cm rainfall, as against the usual 34.57 cm for the period, which is 75% in excess.
With IANS and PTI inputs